Abstract: Provided is a non-woven fabric which is suitable for cleaning wipers, diapers, food packaging materials, etc., and has excellent water absorption and handling performance. The non-woven fabric according to the present invention contains a thermoplastic biodegradable resin, and is characterized in that fibers constituting the non-woven fabric have crimps, the flexural rigidity index in the mechanical direction (MD) of the non-woven fabric is 7.77-37.4 as defined by the following equation: flexural rigidity index in the mechanical direction (MD)=flexural rigidity (gf·cm) in the mechanical direction (MD)/{basis weight(g/m2)}2.5×106, and the bulk density of the non-woven fabric is 0.098 g/cm3 to 0.251 g/cm3.

Abstract: The present invention provides: a nonwoven fabric which gives a sufficiently soft touch when touched by a human hand, while being suppressed in slipperiness between nonwoven fabrics during the production process of a product such as a sanitary material; and a method for producing a nonwoven fabric. One embodiment of the present invention provides a nonwoven fabric which is formed of fibers containing a thermoplastic resin, wherein: the average single fiber fineness of the fibers is 0.7 dtex to 4.0 dtex; the fibers contain 0.01% by mass to 1.5% by mass of a fatty acid amide relative to the total mass of the fibers; and the coverage of the surfaces of the fibers by the fatty acid amide is from 20% to 90%.

Abstract: The present invention provides: a biodegradable non-woven fabric that is biodegradable, is excellent in terms of uniform moldability and shapability (obtaining, in a shorter time, a neat molded body with no tearing, nap, or stretching irregularities), and which has favorable dimensional stability after molding; and a method for producing a molded body. A biodegradable non-woven fabric according to the present invention comprises fibers containing a biodegradable thermoplastic resin, and is characterized in that: the basis weight is 10-450 g/m2; the difference between the melting point and the crystallization onset temperature of the non-woven fabric is not less than 91° C.; and the cold crystal enthalpy heat quantity ?H of the non-woven fabric is not less than 1.0 J/g.

Abstract: The present invention provides a nonwoven fabric separator which has excellent ion permeability. The present invention provides a nonwoven fabric separator which contains a polyolefin-based nonwoven fabric, wherein the permeability parameters expressed by formulae (1) and (2) are satisfied. (1): |Pmax|?38.5 dB (2): Tmax?11.5 minutes (In the formulae, both Pmax and Tmax are parameters each indicating a permeability, and Pmax shows the attenuation degree of ultrasound transmission in a state where the nonwoven fabric separator is filled with water, while Tmax shows the time until the nonwoven fabric separator is filled with water.

Abstract: Provided is a composite sound-absorbing material that can exhibit sound absorption properties in a broad range of low frequencies, intermediate frequencies, and high frequencies even in a low-basis-weight region having low thickness. The composite sound-absorbing material according to the present invention is configured from two or more layers including a base material and a skin material, the skin material being positioned on the outermost layer, wherein the composite sound-absorbing material is characterized in that the ratio (skin material:base material) of the surface area (m2/m2) per unit area of the skin material and the surface area (m2/m2) per unit area of the base material is at least 1:5 and less than 1:40.

Abstract: Provided is a non-woven fabric which is suitable for cleaning wipers, diapers, food packaging materials, etc., and has excellent water absorption and handling performance. The non-woven fabric according to the present invention contains a thermoplastic biodegradable resin, and is characterized in that fibers constituting the non-woven fabric have crimps, the flexural rigidity index in the mechanical direction (MD) of the non-woven fabric is 7.77-37.4 as defined by the following equation: flexural rigidity index in the mechanical direction (MD)=flexural rigidity (gf·cm) in the mechanical direction (MD)/{basis weight(g/m2)}2.5×106, and the bulk density of the non-woven fabric is 0.098 g/cm3 to 0.251 g/cm3.

Abstract: Provided are a non-woven cloth and a layered non-woven cloth that are preferred as a skin material for a composite sound-absorbing material, which has excellent moldability and exceptional shape stability, and with which it is possible to achieve an adequate sound-absorption effect even in thin low-weight regions. The present invention pertains to: a non-woven cloth having a layered structure in which at least one ultrafine fiber layer (M) having an average fiber diameter of 0.

Abstract: According to the electromagnetic cooking apparatus of the present invention, a ventilation hole, through which air after cooling an interior compartment of the main casing of the cooking apparatus is exhausted, communicates with the exhaust passage of the exhaust device so that the suction force of a fan member of the exhaust device is also utilized for exhausting the cooling air, thereby contributing to an improvement in the exhausting efficiency of the cooking apparatus, and the fact that a relatively small fan motor for the cooling device can be used. Consequently the cooling device can be small, which in turn enables the size of the electromagnetic cooking apparatus itself to be relatively small.

Abstract: A cooking stove is provided with a top plate, for receiving cooking utensils, which can be easily and rapidly removed for servicing purposes, etc. The top plate is retained against the stove housing by a very simple catch mechanism at the front and is attached to the housing at the rear by means of screws, at a position adjacent to an air inlet/outlet aperture, with a cover of this aperture also serves to mask the screws, for improved appearance.

Abstract: A spherical micro-porous silica gel, which is characterized by having a mean diameter of 3-20 .mu.m, a bulk density of 0.28-0.41 g/cm.sup.3, a pore size of 18,000-100,000 and a specific surface area of 1,000-1,400 m.sup.2 /g and a production process therefor is characterized by employing (a) an aqueous solution containing SiO.sub.2 in which the primary particle diameter is not larger than 6 nm and the molar ratio of SiO.sub.2 to Na.sub.2 O is not larger than 5.5, (b) either stearic acid or a mixture of stearic acid and a non-ionic surface active agent of which HLB ranges from 3.5 to 6.0 as an emulsifier and (c) an organic acid as a gelling agent.